running jams

I've been getting into running more than I ever have this year. I love it. You get such a big high of happiness right after a good run and it's the best medicine!

I'm up to running 40 minutes without stopping (haven't done that since high school!) and I've made the BEST list of jams for the ladies out there. 

All of these songs are fun, girly and will pump you up! And yes Starships is on this list twice, 1st time to get you going and the 2nd time to get you through the last leg of your run. 

There are two songs on the list from the HBO show GIRLS. You must purchase this album! Great mix of tunes and Icona Pop's I Love It and Santigold's Girls are the BEST workout songs, you'll feel badass and just want to rock it! 

Happy running! 

civil wars + hunger games

How excited was I when I heard that The Civil Wars are on the Hunger Games soundtrack AND one of the first songs released? SUPER excited! Granted it is Joy Williams singing with Taylor Swift but the song is amazing and so pretty. If you read the book you know exactly what part they are singing about...sniff...sniff...tear.

The song, Safe and Sound, is so worth the $1.29 on iTunes and check out the gorgeous folksiness of The Civil Wars album Barton Hollow as well. Monday, Monday...

my odd vs even theory + my year of music!!!

I have this theory about odd vs even years. I hate odd years and love even. I promise I have tried to be positive in odd years but things just go to crap every time an odd year rolls around. So I am majorly looking forward to 2012, can't wait.

I am making 2012 my year of music! My goals are to go to more concerts (already purchased tickets to see FUN. and the Head and the Heart), practice my guitar more and maybe dabble in some song writing.

Top TEN favorite music of 2011:

Florence and the Machine
Avett Brothers
Brandi Carlile

The Shaky Hands

Tapes 'n Tapes

Frightened Rabbit

Best Coast

Neko Case
The Rural Alberta Advantage

and of course 

GLEE

block after block

I turn 28 soon

Even years are the best

I think I found my 28th year anthem

Download this song

Play it super loud

And dance around

Happy Weekend!  

{Matt & Kim, Block after Block}

i'm gleeked!

I thought I would never say this, EVER, but I LOVE GLEE!!!  

I have officially crossed over to being a Gleek. It happen one day when I was cleaning the house and wanted some kind of TV show on in the background. So I thought I would give the first episode of Glee a try (gotta love instant Netflix!). As I start sweeping the floors I caught myself dancing around to the music then I couldn't take my eyes off the TV! Before I knew it I had just watched the first episode and I was SOBBING! Yes, pathetic...I know, but it was all about chasing your dreams and doing what you love, then they sang Journey....enough said.

tv time

Finally! After a very cold and boring spring with nothing to watch on TV all of the best shows are back! 

Breaking Bad is finally back and better than ever! I swear that is the only show I watch where I have to cover my eyes because it gets soooooo INTENSE! 

The Big C is so sweet and funny that you forget the entire show is about dealing with cancer. 

True Blood is the best by far with bad vampires, werewolves and NOW witches duking it out! Oh!!!! How I've  missed the opening song on that show annnnd I can't help but have a girl crush on Sookie. ;)

Here is the song I am talking about....I wanna do bad things to you....so hot!

little miss sunshine melody

My favorite instrumental soundtrack of all time is from Little Miss Sunshine, which is also one of my favorite movies! I probably listen to at least one of these songs everyday. The melodies are perfect for watching the buildings and people go by while riding the train to work. If you are a fan of instrumental music I really think you would enjoy this soundtrack!

big song cover

I was a huge fan of Big Love on HBO and now it is over. : ( My favorite wife was Barb because she was passionate and wanted to be her own person towards the end of the show. I love how the story ended and cried and cried through the final scenes of the show due to this wonderful cover of God Only Knows by Natalie Maines. Check it out!

spring into music

Over the past few weeks I have been listening to some new/old music that I thought you should check out. We have had a very LONG winter here in Chicago and now we will have just a few weeks of spring then finally summertime! I think these albums kind of reflect that transition in some way...cold and melancholy to warm and happy.

Broken Hearts and Dirty Windows - Songs of John Prine
Bruised Orange (Chain of Sorrow)- Justin Vernon of Bon Iver

Florence and the Machine - Lungs

Cosmic Love

Dog Days Are Over

Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns

In the Summertime

{songs from YouTube}

suds-day treat!

For all of my country music lovers out there! I rediscovered this song by Sara Evans while cleaning out my closet. I was in the mood for some country music and started listening to some old stuff. It's so cute and fun! I use to listen to it all of the time when I made the big move to Norman. A little Sunday treat!

take me to the west coast

I got to visit sunny San Diego this past week for work and going from snow to tons of sunshine really brightened my mood strings! My co-worker and I got to rent a car and drive along the coast to interview San Diego area libraries for our new technology study. Everyone in San Diego was so nice and welcoming. I stayed by the Gaslamp Quarter district in the downtown area where there were tons of bars, restaurants and shops! One place that stood out for me was this little French place called Chocolat Cremerie, it was soooo cute with tons of gelato (pic above!), crepes, and of course tons of gourmet chocolate! Yummy!

I couldn't help but think of the Coconut Records song "West Coast" the whole time I was there! I can really see Sean and I living in California or Washington one day, we just seem like West Coast people, but for now we are enjoying the Midwest life! I hope one day all of my friends and I can take a trip to San Diego together...destination wedding anyone? ; )

happy new yeasayer!

Sean and I got a chance to ring in the new year with one of our favorite bands, Yeasayer!!! They had a countdown and started playing right at midnight! Some of their best songs are Madder Red, Ambling Alp, 2080, O.N.E. and I Remember.

The whole concert was fun, happy, colorful, awesome, amazing, beautiful, crazy, and loud! Check out our pics and my navy sequins jacket I wore!

power ballad of 2010!

My power ballad of 2010 has to be Strip Me by Natasha Bedingfield. This year I think I finally became an adult. Sean and I lived on our own in a big city and actually survived. We had a few struggles in the beginning that made us a very humbled couple but in the end we made it work. We were able to enjoy the city for the first year without going under. Sean and I are happier than we ever thought we would be and we are very much looking forward to our future together in Chicago! Happy New Year 2011!

And if you strip me,
Strip it all away
If you strip me,
What would you find
If you strip me,
Strip it all away 

Ill be alright...

- Natasha Bedingfield "Strip Me"

jimmy buffett and parrot heads!

Many people in Sean's family are HUGE Jimmy Buffet fans and it was their goal to get Sean and I to a Jimmy Buffett concert. Well Jimmy just so happen to show up in Chicago this summer and Sean's dad jumped at the chance to take us. I've heard rumors about these Buffent events - parrot heads running around in crazy costumes, LOTS of drinking, games, cookouts, and crazy tailgating. Not only was all of this true but also a whole lot crazier than Sean or I could have imagined! I think these photos will speak for themselves:

Tailgating out of our highlander! Sean has a shark on his head!

Nikki, Leon, Sean and me about to go into the concert.





Party bus!

Me and Nikki in our beautiful grass skirts...

Leon and Sean in our beautiful grass skirts...

  



Jimmy Buffet saluting the Billy Goat Tavern, "Cheezborger, cheezborger, cheezborger!"

 

There is a shark in the crowd!



"Goodbye Chicago!" - Jimmy Buffett

whip It! tunes

I recently watched a movie that I just thought was inspiring, punchy, girly and just plain awesome! (Even Sean liked it after I made him watch it with me) And of course the soundtrack is very impressive and I had to buy it immediately. Whip It! is about a young girl (Ellen Page) who is thrown into the world of beauty pageants, but obviously is not a beauty queen. Alas she discovers ROLLER DERBY! And then the tough love begins....

This movie rocks for many reasons. The team is called the Hurl Scouts and they wear Girl Scout uniforms. Now I was a Daisy, Brownie and a Junior Girl Scout (yes, I went far in Girl Scouts and I'm proud of it!) when I was a little girl. Loved the costumes/uniforms in this film.

The girls - Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig, Alia Shawkatt, Juliette Lewis...Oh and Andrew Wilson (Luke and Ben's bro) is not a girl, but is hilarious as the coach. At last there is the music...mainly underground artists featuring Little Joy, Jens Lekman (heart him), Tilly and the Wall, The Ettes, and many more. The soundtrack is a mix of perfectly rebellious songs for this sweet, rabble-rouser of a movie.

daytrotter vs. broken bells

Sean and I like to think of ourselves as that hippy-dippy couple who love to go to as many concerts as we can (of course on a tight budget). Well after this summer it will be evident that this just might be true. Last week Sean took me to Milwaukee, WS for the Daytrotter Concert Series featuring Ra Ra Riot, Nathaniel Rateliff & Delta Spirit (also it was our first time in Wisconsin!). It was a night full of thumping Americana rock bands in a pretty vintage venue that is a bit smaller than Caine’s Ballroom in Tulsa, but the space had the same vibrating music milieu. I recommend visiting the Daytrotter Web site where you can download FREE live sessions of many assorted and rockin’ bands. Plus the artwork is pretty groovy:

From Milwaukee back to Chicago we will be visiting the Broken Bells on Memorial Day at the Vic Theatre. This is the ONLY album I can listen to from beginning to end on my train ride to and from work. Without ever changing a beat, the music is full of faraway landscapes that are perfect for gazing out onto the city while the train jumps from track to track. If you have not listened to, bought or even read about this band yet, all I can say is you must, YOU absolutely MUST go get it. Broken Bells belongs to James Mercer of The Shins fame and Brian Burton a.k.a. Danger Mouse, also from Gnarls Barkley - one of my personal favorites. Every single song is addicting (a very rare thing)...these songs are songs to love and maybe even marry one day.

More music to come this summer, so stay tuned....

music to love...

If you do anything this month, you need to obtain the (500) Days of Summer Soundtrack to ring in the changing seasons. You will hear an array of artist: Regina Spektor, Hall & Oates, The Temper Trap, Fiest, The Smiths, and many more...even the delicious stars of the film, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel offer their voices to the mix.

They made a statue of us
And it put it on a mountain top
Now tourists come and stare at us
Blow bubbles with their gum
Take photographs for fun...

-Regina Spektor, Us, (500) Days of Summer